Barclays Hires Ex-Goldman Sachs Banker Cabral-Gardner in Brazil Expansion
30 June 2010 | 
Author: Professor |
By Boris Korby Bloomberg 30 June, 2010
Barclays Plc, the U.K.’s third- biggest bank, hired Ana Cabral-Gardner to help lure corporate clients in Brazil as part of an expansion of its investment- banking business.
Cabral-Gardner, 40, will serve as a managing director in the investment banking division in Sao Paulo and report to Alceu Lima, president of Banco Barclays in Brazil, the bank said in a statement. She was previously head of Latin American equity capital markets at Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
The appointment is part of an effort by London-based Barclays to expand beyond fixed-income and debt capital markets in Latin America’s largest economy. In April, the bank began equities trading on Brazil’s stock exchange through local broker-dealer Barclays Corretora de Titulos e Valores Mobiliarios.
“If you are a truly global bank today, it’s important to have a significant presence in Brazil,” Cabral-Gardner said in a telephone interview from Sao Paulo. “Barclays is committed to Brazil to a point where it’s willing to put its balance sheet to work for companies in the market, and that’s one of the biggest differences and competitive advantages that we can offer our clients locally.”
Brazil’s economy may expand 7.3 percent this year, the fastest pace in more than two decades, the country’s policy makers said today in a quarterly report.
Barclays has boosted its employee total in Brazil to about 150 from 60 since late 2008, spokesman Brandon Ashcraft said in an e-mail.
“On a fundamental basis, there’s significant value to be realized in Brazil in almost every equity sector,” Cabral- Gardner said. “The Brazilian consumer today has gained critical mass, and is large enough that it cannot be ignored.”
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